Comments from Scotland on politics, technology & all related matters (ie everything)/"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."Henry Louis Mencken....WARNING - THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS HAVE DECIDED THAT THIS BLOG IS LIKELY TO BE MISTAKEN FOR AN OFFICIAL PARTY SITE (no really, unanimous decision) I PROMISE IT ISN'T SO ENTER FREELY & OF YOUR OWN WILL

Of course this makes no allowance for the possibility of bias. It is conceivable that Gunter's figures are not entirely accurate, however I think, bearing in mind that he is an EU Commissioner, that they are not going to be an underestimate.

Of course this takes no account whatsoever of the fact that EU growth is, unsurprisingly, less than the world average, as is almost inevitable if 5.5% of GNP disappears into the regulatory morass. Taking the EU growth rate as 3.2% (I must admit I was surprised it was so high though clearly it is disproportionately in the poorer eastern European & Iberian countries which is thus worse for us) compared to the world average of 5% means that over a decade we lose 17% of our incomes. Compared to the direct financial cost that is far higher.